Tuesday, March 29, 2011

As some of you may know we're on the design board for a UK based website called MyDeco.com. This is a fantastic resource not only for it's home decor search engine capabilities, but also for it's incredible design tools, including a 3-D room planner. Well today we're excited to announce that DWR has partnered with MyDeco to launch the DWR 3D Room Planner, enabling users to design their own iconic rooms using DWR's vast collection of modern classics. Customers can either upload an existing floor plan or customize a room shape and then alter the colors, textures, patterns and dimensions of walls, floors, doors and windows to resemble their existing rooms in both 2D and 3D. Once you have a plan you can then start to experiment with hundreds of products from DWR to see what works for your space. Once you feel comfortable with your selections, you'll be sent a high quality 3D rendering in about 2 hours that you can share through facebook, twitter or your own email account. What's even more exciting is that DWR plans to outfit it's new Stamford, Connecticut store with a "Design Bar" that includes computer stations and allows customers to work directly with it's sales team in designing 3-D renderings. They hope to have many more "Design Bars" in other stores in the near future. It's easy and fun, but more importantly extremely helpful to be able to see the scale and proportions of things in your own space before making such a financial commitment. We think it's a very exciting time and we have a feeling you're going to start seeing a lot more of MyDeco at other major retailers in the very near future. Stay tuned...In the meantime, see the video below for a great demonstration on how DWR's 3D room planner can help you.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Last week we teased you with the top photo and talked about a special project we'd been working hard on over the last few months. Well today, we can finally reveal the details. Before the holidays we were approached by one of our favorite companies, Moore & Giles Leather, and they asked us if we'd be interested in designing a one of a kind camper to debut at DIFFA's Dining By Design. Before they could even finish the sentence we answered with an enthusiastic "Hell Yeah!" Moore & Giles went on to say "...we want you to trick this thing out and do whatever you want!" Well...we took them at their word and came up with a pretty ambitious design. We started with a really big idea and thought we could always scale down-but when we sent our initial drawings to the workshop they said "no problem...we can make it." A few months, a number of trips to Virginia, and a lot of phone calls, sketches, photos and e-mails later our vision became a reality and The Great American Woody was born. Designed to offer the ultimate in luxury tailgating and showcase the art of high-end entertaining outdoors, the Woody features a pull out bar along with a pony keg, a flat screen TV, media center, outdoor games, sleeping accommodations, and more all self-contained in a mahogany clad tear drop camper able to be pulled by an SUV. What's equally fulfilling is the fund raising component. The Woody comes with a big Tip Jar sitting on the bar so that any money put in goes directly to DIFFA. It made it's debut last night here in NYC at DIFFA's DBD, which runs in conjunction with the Architectural Digest Home Show, and will be on display the rest of the weekend. Click here for more details! If you're planning on going to the AD show, make sure you walk through DIFFA's exhibition space and look at all the incredible designs created from some of the country's top interior designers. But also...make sure you stop by the Woody and throw a little money in the Tip Jar. If you're not in New York...don't worry, the GAW will soon be going on tour and may be headed to your neck of the woods in the near future. For updates on where it will be next go to www.followthewoody.com or become a facebook fan here! It will eventually end up back here in New York and in December this one-of-a-kind creation will be auctioned off at DIFFA’s Be Present auction and all proceeds will go to support DIFFA’s groundbreaking work in the fight against AIDS. We love our Woody : ) but this took a team of people to create and we first have to thank the incredibly talented John Davis and his guys at Silver Tears Campers. We can't say enough about John's immense talent and patience. He thinks we're totally nuts, but he was able to execute any and all ideas we threw at him and we threw him a lot. Secondly, we have to thank the folks at Moore & Giles leather for this fantastic opportunity. They also probably think we're nuts-but we had more fun working with these guys and hope to do some other exciting collaborations with them in the future. We also need to thank master mixologist Jim Meehan from PDT for showing us the ins and outs of a bar (that was fun research!) We also want to thank Sandra Spannan from See Painting who so generously donated her time and talent to paint our beautiful tip jar. She did a fantastic job and this is just the "tip" of the iceberg of what this gifted artist can do. And finally we'd like to thank DIFFA who along with M&G asked us to be a part of this unbelievable journey. We hope you'll stay tuned and we promise some more photos and details will be coming soon! TGIF. (photos by Rick Lew)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Be sure and tune in to Martha Stewart’s radio show today, March 16th at 4pm. We'll be talking to Kevin Sharkey, the Editorial Director for Decorating at Martha Stewart on ways to create casual yet elegant rooms in your home. Hope you'll join us by tuning in to Sirius Radio 112 or XM 157. If you're not a subscriber to either, no worries...you can get a FREE 3 day subscription by clicking here!Enjoy. (photo taken by Eric Striffler for Brad Ford ID).

Thursday, March 10, 2011

We've been working really hard on a special venture that we're eager to tell you about, but we have to wait a few more days before we can share the full details. We often get asked to collaborate on various projects but this one has been the most fun by far and we hope you'll come along for the ride. The above photo is a bit of a teaser, but if you want to be among the first to see this one-of-a-kind creation in person we suggest you come to DIFFA's Dining by Design cocktail party next Thursday, March 17th where it will be making it's New York Debut before traveling across the country. Click here for details on the event. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The April issue of Architectural Digest is about to hit newstands and we can't wait to get our hands on a copy. The powers that be tell us it's even more beautiful than Margaret Russell's recently re-designed March issue. We're especially excited to see more on the above story in which AD visits Vidal Sassoon. The star stylist and his wife, Ronnie, refresh Richard Neutra's iconic Singleton House in Bel Air. An interview with the couple reveals surprising links between Sassoon's revolutionary haircuts and architecture. For the complete story and more photographs click here.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

A few years ago we fell in love with textile designer Lulu De Kwiatkowski's bookLulu. Part travel journal, part art book and part autobiography, this colorful publication is a feast for the eyes. Her striking compositions play with scale and color, recalling Frida Kahlo and Peter Beard in their detail and imagination. Exotic fish swim past dining room furniture and Victorian erotica figures mingle with tree-sized bright red lollipops in these surreal, energetic landscapes. Now these images are available for purchase and will make up LuLu's first gallery show with an exhibition starting at Clic Gallery on April 7th. Clic will present giclée prints of the original collages in limited editions and we're excited to see these sumptuous works in person. To learn more about the show click here and to find out more about Lulu's fabric line click here.